Female Adaptations to Ovulation

Abstract

Particularly when compared to many other primates, human females appear to have lost any cues to their ovulatory status at some point during our evolutionary past. Until recently, it was assumed that the timing of peak fertility was hidden from both men and women. However, current evidence suggests that subtle changes in women’s behavior and preferences that correspond with the periovulatory period of a woman’s menstrual cycle persist and may function to promote conception, particularly with higher quality males. Women appear more sexually motivated, are rated as more attractive, and may be better able to attract a mate around ovulation compared to other points in the cycle. Moreover, women report higher attraction to putative indicators of underlying genetic health in men when conception is most likely, which may allow offspring to reap associated genetic benefits. Critically, men seem capable of detecting subtle cues to ovulation, increasing their ratings of the attractiveness of periovulatory women and, according to their romantic partners, engaging in more mate guarding behavior. Altogether, the current research suggests that female ovulation is not entirely concealed.

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